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J-PARC Project Newsletter
No.35, February 2009
Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex under construction
jointly by the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and
the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
http://j-parc.jp/index-e.html
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HEADLINES AND CONTENTS
1. [Overview]
TWO MAJOR MILESTONES ACHIEVED
BUDGET FOR THE NEXT YEAR
NEW SCHEME FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEUTRON FACILITY
PLANS BY THE USERS CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ADVANCED
J-PARC SEMINAR WAS HELD IN BEIJING
NTT RESEARCH BUILDING IS NOW CONVERTED TO J-PARC USERS AND
OTHERS
MAJOR EVENTS
2. [Accelerator Division]
SUCCESS OF 30 GEV ACCELERATION AND EXTRACTION IN MR
3. [Nuclear and Particle Physics Division]
FIRST BEAM SOON TO THE HADRON EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
CONSTRUCTION OF NEUTRINO FACILITY
THE FIRST T-VIOLATION EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN PERFORMED AT TOKAI
RADIOACTIVE ION ACCELERATOR COMPLEX (TRIAC)
4. [Materials and Life Science Division]
PROGRAM REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETINGS FOR BOTH NEUTRON AND
MUON HAVE BEEN HELD TO SELECT THE PROGRAM AMONG
PROPOSALS SUBMITTED
BEAM TEST WITH 100kW PROTON BEAM CONDUCTED SUCCESSFULLY
OPERATION FOR THE FIRST USER PROGRAM STARTED ON 23
DECEMBER 2008
THE CALL FOR PROPOSAL OF FY 2009 IS NOW ANNOUNCED
5. [Nuclear Transmutation Section]
ADS TECHNOLOGY REVIEWED
6. [Safety Division]
THE SAFETY INSPECTION OF 50GeV MR, HADRON AND MLF
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTED BY NUSTEC
7. [Announcement of Symposia and Meetings]
8. [Editorial Note]
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1. [Overview] by Shoji NAGAMIYA
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TWO MAJOR MILESTONES ACHIEVED
On December 23 two major milestones were achieved. One was
to open the 3 GeV MLF facilities to the neutron and muon users.
After receiving proposals for the first time, we selected the proposals
and
waited for this time. Exactly on schedule, we finally opened the neutron
and
muon facilities to users.
On the same day, we achieved another major milestone. This is the
first success of the 30 GeV acceleration at the Main Ring. By now we can
run 3 GeV and 50 GeV independently. Without any disturbance to the 3
GeV users, the test of the 50 GeV was performed. After we experienced
a long effort to attain a stability of the electric power during the
past
few months, the stability was significantly improved. In addition, the
RF
power was very smooth. Furthermore, the success is due to an imaginary
gamma lattice, where we designed our magnet configuration to avoid any
transition energies at which the beam has a strong divergence. As a
synchrotron, this is the first trial to adopt this imaginary gamma
lattice
for magnets. By having this success, the next milestone is an extraction
of the beam to the hadron beamline in February of 2009 and also an
extraction to the neutrino beamline in April of 2009.
BUDGET FOR THE NEXT YEAR
The budget for the next fiscal year of 2009 has been announced at
the
end of December. For operations, the JAEA and KEK obtained approximately
60 Oku Yen for JAEA and 65 Oku Yen for KEK. In addition, JAEA obtained
another 18 Oku Yen for the energy recovery of the Linac. Furthermore, a
new scheme of funding (see below) allows 5 Oku Yen, as the first year
funding, of the two neutron instruments. In addition, another
supplemental
budget will come, and it will soon be released officially.
NEW SCHEME FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEUTRON FACILITY
As described in the previous Newsletter, a new scheme to allow
funding
for operation of neutron programs is now entering into the final stage
of
discussion inside the Government. If this new scheme comes in, then, the
entire neutron facility together with the entire operation of Linac and
3
GeV will be guaranteed by the Government directly and not by the JAEA.
Furthermore, many neutron instruments will be constructed by the
Government directly. It is anticipated that this new law will be
discussed in the Diet from January or February of 2009. Then, if
everything
goes smoothly, a new funding scheme for the instrument will start in
JFY2009 and a new scheme for the operation will start in JFY2011.
This new scheme can be applied only for the JAEA budget. We have to
invent another new scheme for the KEK budget, since the total
operational
budget remains almost flat these days.
PLANS BY THE USERS CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ADVANCED
The J-PARC major upgrade plans are now under a serious discussion
among six user communities at the Users Consultative Committee. The 6
communities are: particle physics, nuclear physics, neutron science,
muon
science, nuclear transformation, and industry. They are now preparing a
document in which priorities are also included. The final goal of the
document creation is March of 2009.
J-PARC SEMINAR WAS HELD IN BEIJING
The Asian Science Seminar on High Intensity Proton Accelerator was
held in Beijing on October 19 through October 25. Participants included
China 102, Japan 86, Korea 13, Taiwan 3 and USA 3. Many young people
(about 70) attended this conference.
NTT RESEARCH BUILDING IS NOW CONVERTED TO J-PARC USERS
AND OTHERS
Since December 16 a new office space has been available for J-PARC
users. The Users Office of the J-PARC opened also. They are located
outside the main campus which was previously used for the NTT Research
Center. Ibaraki Quantum Beam Research Center can now accommodate
Ibaraki Prefecture, Tokai Village, U. Tokyo, Ibaraki Univ., and J-PARC.
MAJOR EVENTS
The J-PARC Ceremony for the completion of the project will be
scheduled for July 6. We invite all the related persons, including major
people, foreign guests, industries that contributed to us, and our
participants. The total number of guests will be about 800.
Preceding the above, we had a ceremony to celebrate the opening
of the MLF facility together with the opening of the NTT facility called
the Ibaraki Quantum Beam Research Center on December 16.
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2. [Accelerator Division] by Ainosuke ANDO
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SUCCESS OF 30 GEV ACCELERATION AND EXTRACTION IN MR
The proton beam was successfully accelerated to 30 GeV in the Main
Ring (MR) and extracted to the abort dump at 17:34 on 23rd December,
2008, through the precise tuning of the acceleration frequency with the
constant RF voltage of 160 kV by four cavities and without any beam
feedback. The acceleration time is 2.5 seconds with two parabolas of
0.4 seconds duration in both starting and ending region of acceleration
although the designed values of these figures are 1.9 and 0.1 seconds,
respectively. The longer durations than the designed ones are selected
to secure reliable current tracking because the power supplies cannot
show demanded performances. Tuning toward beam extraction to the
hadron beam line is now in eager work to achieve by the end of next
February. The beam of RCS for MLF is normally supplied in 25 Hz
operation and the beam for MR tuning is subtracted from the output
beam line of RCS by a pulsed bending magnet according to the one
shot demand at any time or periodical demand of every six seconds.
The beam subtraction to MR by the pulse bend is originally designed
such that four successive batches of RCS acceleration are directed
to MR without any effects on beams to MLF in every 3 ~ 4 seconds.
But the present scheme is that eight successive batches are dedicated
to MR and only the third batch is filled with protons (the others are
vacant) in every 6 seconds because the tuning time is very limited but
beam to MLF must be stably served. This scheme physically assures
that there are no effects of the pulse bend on MLF beams.
The RFQ could not recover after an RF discharge on 27th, September,
2008. The scheduled beam commissioning in October was changed for
a careful conditioning and this was continued through November. The
recovery seemed to be almost complete at the beginning of the
commissioning run in December and the 0.6 ms beam of the LINAC was
served to RCS. After almost 2 weeks operation, the frequency of
discharge abruptly increased and finally the RFQ could not recover.
Then the careful conditioning was restarted in about 5 days and the
operation with the beam pulse width of 0.1 ms was employed as the
present standard. Also from these experiences, a careful recovery
procedure was established by the accelerator division, not only by
persons in charge. The output beam power of RCS is expected to reach
few tens of kW by increasing the peak current of LINAC and the beam
length in RCS. Though it is essential to widen the beam of the RFQ to
obtain more beam power, the available power will be decided
according to the achieved level of the RFQ conditioning for the
remainder of this fiscal year.
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3. [Nuclear and Particle Physics Division]
by J. Imazato, T.Tsukamoto, H.Miyatake
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FIRST BEAM SOON TO THE HADRON EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
(by J. Imazato)
Expecting the first slow extracted beam soon within this month
the Hadron Hall is now experiencing its busiest final stage of
construction. The primary proton beamline has already been
installed with chimney magnets down to the beam dump. All the
magnets were successfully tested with full excitation. The vacuum
system with the beam pipes, the T1-downstream pentagon vessel
and pillow-seal flanges etc. have also been commissioned successfully.
The Ti target is now sitting in position waiting for the beam. The
first-commissioned secondary line K1.8-BR has also been installed
with the electrostatic separator, which is now under conditioning.
The crane operation is now devoting itself to the last stage of piling
up shielding blocks at the top of the beamlines. Most of the concrete
blocks were transferred from KEK-PS in Tsukuba. Thus, the Hadron
Hall is almost ready to accept the beam. As the first experiment
E15 "kaonic nuclear spectroscopy" is now setting up the detector
in the K1.8-BR area together with the data taking system in the
counting house outside the hall aiming for the first Hadron Hall
experiment in this spring.
A "workshop celebrating the first beam at the Hadron Hall" is
planned on May 25 and 26 on site. Physics prospects in the Hadron
Hall will be discussed both from theory and experiments. For details
please refer to the web site "hadws09@nexus.kek.jp".
CONSTRUCTION OF NEUTRINO FACILITY (by T. Tsukamoto)
The vacuum system of the neutrino beam line such as beam pipes
and beam position/profile monitors etc. has been installed and tested.
The system will be completed in March.
Excitation test of normal magnets for the neutrino beam line has been
performed successfully. The cryogenic system for the superconducting
magnets has been constructed and its performance tests are being
carried out. The second horn test at KEK was finished and it was
transported to J-PARC. The first horn test in TS (Target Station)
building at J-PARC was performed successfully and others will be
tested in January 2009. OTR(Optical Transition Radiation detector)
to monitor the beam position in front of the graphite target was
installed in parallel with construction of the TS helium vessel.
The BD(Beam Dump) was installed in the pit sitting at the end of
the neutrino beam line tunnel and piping work in the pit is being
carried out. MUMON (Muon Monitor) sitting at the downstream end
of the neutrino beam line tunnel will be installed in February 2009.
The neutrino beam line DAQ(Data Acquisition) system is being
constructed and tested step by step. The DAQ system was tested
during 50 GeV ring commissioning at the end of December 2008 using
beam timing signals delivered from the accelerator system. Electronic
noise caused by accelerator operation and beam backgrounds caused
by beam halos/tails at upstream beam loss monitors were measured.
The construction of all scintillator planes of the on-axis neutrino
detector (INGRID) was completed in December 2008. The assembly of
the INGRID module with the iron structure will begin in February 2009.
THE FIRST T-VIOLATION EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN PERFORMED AT
TOKAI RADIOACTIVE ION ACCELERATOR COMPLEX (TRIAC)
(by H.Miyatake)
The R-correlation in beta-decays of polarized 8Li was for the first
time measured with a drift chamber (DC) type electron polarimeter by
applying the Mott scattering. The result shows a high performance of
the DC polarimeter.
THE 6TH JAPAN-ITALY SYMPOSIUM ON HEAVY-ION PHYSICS WAS
HELD
The 6th Japan-Italy symposium on Heavy-Ion Physics was held
on November 11-15 at Tokai, cosponsored by KEK, 6 internal facilities
and Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) with 90 participants.
The present status and the future prospects of heavy-ion nuclear
physics were discussed.
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4. [Materials and Life Science Division] by Yujiro IKEDA
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PROGRAM REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETINGS FOR BOTH NEUTRON AND
MUON HAVE BEEN HELD TO SELECT THE PROGRAM AMONG
PROPOSALS SUBMITTED
BEAM TEST WITH 100kW PROTON BEAM CONDUCTED SUCCESSFULLY
OPERATION FOR THE FIRST USER PROGRAM STARTED ON 23
DECEMBER 2008
1. Beam Transport and Neutron Source
The 3-GeV proton beam transport line (3NBT) has been studied for
obtaining the basic parameters of beam optics. The beam line components
were carefully tuned and the proton beam of 100 kW was successfully
transported to the mercury target without any significant beam loss in
December 2008. In the 100 kW beam injection, the temperature of flowing
mercury in the target vessel was measured and almost coincident to the
estimated value in the target design. Also, the pressure waves were
measured and are being analyzed to understand the time responses of the
target vessel.
Ancillary systems were operated stably for MLF beam operation at 100 kW.
Radiation dose levels due to residual radioactivity in the mercury
circulation system at the hot cell were measured in November. Based on
the
measured data, we are reconsidering the maintenance procedure because
of the higher than expected radiation dose. Maintenance work for the
primary cooling water piping was exercised, and many lessons have been
given to reduce tritium contamination.
2. Neutron Science
As of last September, seven neutron instruments have been under
commissioning: 4D Space Access Neutron Spectrometer 4SEASONS (BL#01),
IBARAKI Biological Crystal Diffractometer iBIX (BL#03), Neutron-Nucleus
Reaction Instrument NNRI (BL#04), Super High Resolution Powder
Diffractometer S-HRPD (BL#08), NeutrOn Beam-line for Observation &
Research Use NOBORU (BL#10), Engineering Materials Diffractometer
TAKUMI (BL#19) and IBARAKI Materials Design Diffractometer iMATERIA
(BL#20). From December, 2008, an additional 5 instruments, i.e., Neutron
Optics and Fundamental Physics Beam Line NOP (BL#05), High Resolution
Chopper Spectrometer HRC (BL#12), High-Performance Neutron Reflectometer
with a Horizontal Sample Geometry H-REF (BL#16) and High Intensity Total
diffractometer NOVA (BL#21) have been joined. Mainly, machine studies
and
trial measurements for actual usage on user programs have been carried
out on each instrument. On iBIX, they have succeeded in observing
diffraction from a protein crystal (volume: 13 mm3) for the first time.
Commissioning on HRC and H-REF were started with old instruments
transferred from the KENS facility, KEK and trial measurements have
been successfully carried out. Especially, on H-REF, reflection from a
standard sample of Ni layer was clearly observed in the range of the
reflectivity of 3 orders of magnitude, which is expected to be improved
soon after taking countermeasures for background in the further
commission
work. On NOVA, although the most of components of the spectrometer
were not yet ready, they have tried the performance test of a new GEM
beam monitor, which will be used for this instrument.
On S-HRPD, temperature dependence of the crystal structure of
Multi-Ferroic
materials was measured by a group of KEK and SungKyunKwan University
(Korea). On NOBORU, Hokkaido University group carried out imaging
measurements on alloys and welded materials. The first user beam time
was
the period of only 3 days. So, we are expecting more full-fledged user
program activity from this coming January and February.
The 2nd International Advisory Committee was held in 11-12
November,
2008 for reviewing the project of DNA, Biomolecular Dynamics
Spectrometer.
The 3rd International Workshop on Chopper Software was held in 8-9
December,
2008 at Fukuroda, Ibaraki. This workshop is for discussing software for
chopper spectrometers especially from the practical view points and was
held
approximately once per 6 months so far.
3. Detector Development
Commissioning test on 2-d compact scintillation detectors with
wavelength shifting fiber read out ( first and second one) for the
biomaterial single crystal diffractometer "iBIX" and 1-d scintillation
detectors with "ISIS-type" fiber coded method for the engineering
diffractometer "TAKUMI" (first and second one) have been performed
successfully.
4. Muon Science
The superconducting solenoid was successfully ramped to a current
of
600A and pions from the muon production target were injected into the
solenoid. The pions decay into muons in-flight and were extracted and
transported into the D2 experimental area. Positive or negative decay
muons
can be obtained by adjusting the polarity of the bending and focusing
magnets. We were able to observe the muonic X-rays from an aluminum
target. The successful application of using negative muons for
nondestructive
element analysis was shown by observing the Au and Ag muonic X-rays from
a Kobann (old japanese gold coin).
In the D1 area, a mSR experiment with 128 segmented detectors was
installed and tested by obtaining the spin rotation spectra of muons
under a 2mT field and muonium under a 0.5mT field.
They are currently ready to run an experiment using surface muons (4Mev
positive muons).
5. User Program
The first Proposal Review Committee (PRC) meetings of neutron and
muon were held in October 30, and November 12, respectively. In this
FY 2008, 32 days were subjected to the user beam time. 27 proposals out
of 42 proposed were approved to be conducted through reviews by the
committees. As we have adopted the system to meet the requirement of an
international user facility, the language was English. In the neutron
PRC, we invited 4 international scientists. We started the user
operation
from December 23, 2008. The proton beam power, however, was very low
of 4kW at the beginning because of needs for RFQ conditioning. Hopefully
several tens kW power will be available in the next cycle which will
start
in January, 2009.
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5. [Nuclear Transmutation Section] by Kenji KIKUCHI
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ADS TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
The Atomic Energy Commission of Japan reviewed the achievement
of accelerator driven system, ADS, at the Review Session on
Partitioning and Transmutation Technology last December.
The summary report is to be discussed soon.
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6. [Safety Division]
by Minoru TAKASAKI, Taichi MIURA and Hiroshi NAKASHIMA
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THE SAFETY INSPECTION OF 50GeV MR, HADRON AND MLF
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTED BY NUSTEC
During the shutdown period, the inspections of the 50GeV proton
synchrotron (MR), the Materials and Life Science Facility (MLF), and
Nuclear and Particle Physics Facility (HD) were conducted on December
1, 2008, by the Nuclear Safety Technology Center (NUSTEC): the
inspection items were working conditions of emergency and interlock
signals, shielding structures and radiation signs posted around the
radiation controlled areas. All items shown in the documents for the
application were confirmed on December 8 and the operation of these
facilities was authorized. The shielding structures in the HD are
scheduled to be inspected in January, 2009.
The 5th Radiation Safety Committee of J-PARC (the 11th Safety
Deliberative Committee on Radiation Safety of J-PARC) met on October
6, 2008, to discuss the application of Linac, 3GeV Rapid Cycling
Synchrotron (RCS), MLF, MR, and the neutrino facilities: the neutrino
facility was the only new construction facility and other items were
for changes of current facilities. Before these committees, the 6th
and the final Expert Committee on the safety of the J-PARC neutrino
production target was held and the summary report presented to these
committees was discussed. The 7th Expert Committee of J-PARC on the
Interlock System met on December 3, 2008, and mainly deliberated the
interlock system of the three secondary beam lines in HD: K1.8, K1.8BR
and KL beam lines. The application form for the new construction of the
radiation measurement laboratory was discussed with the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on November
4 and the hearing is expected to continue several times till the final
submission of the application form.
An educational video about the general safety of the neutrino
facility
for experimental users was completed and the user's office is ready to
use it as a part of education. The Expert Committee of J-PARC on the
laser was established and met to discuss about the manual for the safe
handling of laser equipment and future action policies.
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7. [Announcement of Symposia and Meetings]
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1) The 6th Japan-Italy symposium on Heavy-Ion Physics,
November 11-15 at Tokai
2) The 2nd International Advisory Committee reviewing the project of
DNA,
Biomolecular Dynamics Spectrometer was held in 11-12 November, 2008
3) The 3rd International Workshop on Chopper Software was held in 8-9
December, 2008 at Fukuroda, Ibaraki
4) Ceremony of the opening of the MLF facility the Ibaraki Quantum Beam
Research Center, December 16, 2008, Tokai
5) Workshop celebrating the first beam at the Hadron Hall
May 25 and 26; hadws09@nexus.kek.jp
6) The J-PARC Ceremony for the completion of the project, July 6 in
Tokyo
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8. [Editorial Note]
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Editorial Board:
Masatoshi ARAI (chair): masatoshi.arai@j-parc.jp
Yujiro IKEDA: ikeda.yujiro@jaea.go.jp
Nobuo OUCHI: ouchi.nobuo@jaea.go.jp
Shinya SAWADA: shinya.sawada@kek.jp
Toshifumi TSUKAMOTO: toshifumi.tsukamoto@kek.jp
English Editor: Dick MISCHKE mischke@triumf.ca
Secretary: Chikako KAIBARA kaibara.chikako@jaea.go.jp
++++++++++++++++End of Letter+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++